Friday's Notebook

June 29, 1985

A groundskeeper at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, who devised an elaborate hoax in an effort to get out of a $15,000 gambling debt, wound up getting shot in the hip and facing criminal charges, police said Friday. After telling investigators the debt was run up by a Baltimore Orioles player and paying a friend $125 to shoot him in the leg, Joseph Thorn, 21, confessed to police the incident was planned so his bookie would forgive the debt. Thorn initially told police, who interviewed him at his hospital bedside, that he was to meet a man outside the stadium to pay an unnamed player's gambling debt. Thorn told police the man instead suggested the two split the $15,000, and when he refused, he was shot in the right hip. The allegation sparked an intense investigation by city police that turned up no evidence of gambling activities involving ballplayers or any member of the Orioles' organization. Detectives learned Thorn had made up the entire story when his father pressed his son for more information. The true story: Thorn ran up a $15,000 gambling debt he could not pay. He had told the bookmaker the bets were being made by a player. Thorn wanted to be shot in the leg so he could tell the bookie the player's representative was angry, and suggest the debt be forgiven. Thorn allegedly paid William Hunter Jr., 24, the $125 to shoot him in the leg, but his friend got nervous and missed, hitting him in the hip.

Thorn passed two hospitals on the way home from a city park -- where the shooting took place June 14 -- but later admitted himself after bleeding persisted.

Police charged Thorn with making a false statement to police. Hunter was charged with conspiring to make a false statement.

Orioles and American League officials, who were notified of the city police investigation, had no comment on the case.

''It's all a fairy tale to me,'' Orioles manager Earl Weaver said.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Rod Scurry, suspended for missing a game Sunday and failing to follow an after-care program, will continue outpatient treatment for a drug abuse problem. Pirates General Manager Joe L. Brown said Scurry has been placed on a rehabilitation list and is expected to return to playing actively ''in the near future.'' ''He'll be working out with the team when they return'' on Thursday from a three-day road trip to New York. Brown: ''He will not accompany the team to New York'' when it leaves Monday.

Brown said he and Scurry met at the Players Association offices in New York City Friday with a review council consisting of a panel of doctors who are experts in chemical dependencies.

''There are all kinds of chemical dependencies,'' Brown said. ''He does not have a new problem.''

Scurry, 29, admitted he was addicted to cocaine in April 1984 and spent a month at a Pittsburgh-area drug rehabilitation center before rejoining the team.

''It was not an adversarial meeting. The cooperation with the Players' Association was all you could ask for,'' Brown said. ''The whole thing is designed for the good of Rod Scurry. A specific program will be given to us and Rod on Monday,'' he said.

In the meantime, Brown said he ''asked Rod Scurry to answer no questions now or in the future.''

New York Mets right fielder Darryl Strawberry was removed from the disabled list and reactivated before Friday night's game with the St. Louis Cardinals. Strawberry, who tore ligaments in his right thumb while making a diving catch against the Phillies May 11, started against the Cardinals, batting fifth and playing right field. Outfielder Len Dykstra, batting .267 with one home run and four RBIs in 11 games with the Mets this season, was optioned to Tidewater of the International League to make room for Strawberry.

Strawberry was hitting .215 with six home runs and 12 RBI in 25 games before going on the disabled list.

Pittsburgh Pirates President Dan Galbreath, increasingly agitated with a lack of offers for the team, said he will give a local group one month to make a bid. The Pirates have been for sale since last November, but Galbreath has said no firm offers have been forthcoming. A group of Pittsburgh corporate executives led by Westinghouse Electric Corp. Chairman Douglas D. Danforth has been discussing ways to save the team, including a possible public-private investment financed with a bond issue. But a spokesman for the group, attorney Carl Barger, said Thursday a firm offer might not be made until the end of summer. Galbreath: ''To wait until the end of summer would be too long for me. They either do or they don't want major-league baseball in Pittsburgh.'' Galbreath said he has talked at length with Danforth's group and ''they know the figures. They know the options. It shouldn't take them long to get together a proposal.''

An offer of $25 million has been mentioned privately by Danforth's group and Mayor Richard Caliguiri, but Galbreath is reported to be seeking between $35 million and $50 million, which would be in line with other recent major league club sales.